I actually was going to start an almost ifenytical thread. Looks like more people are wondering about it than actually using it!
Anyway I'll be subscribing to this thread (or trying too with this damn tapatalk!) and awaiting feedback!

Truthfully, I've had nothing but bad experiences buying bargain ($60 and under) badger brushes. Either they shed incessantly or were so floppy and lacked density that I couldn't make good lather with them. OTOH I've had nothing but good experiences with Stirling. So I figured I'd roll the dice. Hector's thumbs up sealed the deal.

The brush arrived today. I did a quick palm lather with some Stirling (natch) to get a feel for the knot and start the de-funking. I had already shaved today and didn't want to face lather with relatively sensitive skin so I'll do that soon.

First off, the tips: they feel pretty soft both dry and damp, running against the sensitive skin on he inside of my wrist I didn't feel any scritch.

The hairs at first glance don't have the thickness/resilience/spring of the premium 2-band hair I'm familiar with. This could be due to a lack of density in the knot. But it does feel like a 2-band knot in use, which is to say it keeps its form and splays in a more controlled way than a 3-band.

The knot is definitely less dense than some of the premium 2 bands and 3 bands I have. I would call it medium density. Which hopefully will mean good flow through.

The handle is a nice if conventional shape and feels heavy and substantial.

At any rate, the lather it made was very good indeed, and the knot bloomed out into a well shaped hybrid bulb, a preferred shape of mine. Here's what it looks like:
I will report back once I've used it, but so far, so good.

Ok first shave this morning. IMHO the whole point of a 2-band brush is face lathering, so that's what I got it for. I now face lather almost 100% of the time so I only want to keep brushes I can face lather with. I loaded up some Stirling executive man -- a solid load but not humongous.

The face feel was fine -- no real scritch. It splays pretty easily on the face and in a matter of seconds I had rich, thick hydrated lather. The brush releases lather easily given its medium density. I like to put it on pretty thick on my first pass, and the brush held enough lather for my typical 2 passes plus touch ups, with at least as half pass of lather left over in the knot -- which was a little dark from it being a new knot. I have the feeling that if I had loaded longer the knot would have held enough lather for 3+ passes easily.

I was impressed at how quickly the knot had dried from my first use the day before. Again I attribute this to the medium density.

While I certainly don't have the brush experience Hector has, I can safely say after one use that this brush provides a genuine badger feel without feeling quite as plush/luxurious as a premium 2-band. I attribute this mostly to lack of density, not to lack of hair quality. So far it has not shed a single full length hair. The brush is significantly better than brushes I've paid twice the amount for. My personal feeling is that badger brushes are kind of like Pinot Noir -- once you go down below a certain price point there's a real risk you're going to get something awful. In this sense, this brush represents a real achievement. To those looking for a low-risk entry into the badger experience I can wholeheartedly recommend especially at this intro price.

Thanks for the review surfshaver. I'm going to have to pick one up for travel, and maybe another as a gift. I traveled with my synthetic last week, and though it lathers fine, it's just not the same as a badger.

Hi guys, here to report back after a few more uses. All I can say is this is a legit 2-band brush and a bona fide steal at the price. For comparison's sake, I bought one of the Rooney 3-Band Silvertips (Script Logo), size 1/2 on sale from Vintage Blades, for 60 bucks instead of the 100 dollar retail price. While the Rooney handle is nicer than that of the Stirling, the 30 dollar Stirling has a knot that is superior to the Rooney in every way. Just my $0.02.

(07-05-2016, 04:23 PM)surfshaver Wrote: Hi guys, here to report back after a few more uses. All I can say is this is a legit 2-band brush and a bona fide steal at the price. For comparison's sake, I bought one of the Rooney 3-Band Silvertips (Script Logo), size 1/2 on sale from Vintage Blades, for 60 bucks instead of the 100 dollar retail price. While the Rooney handle is nicer than that of the Stirling, the 30 dollar Stirling has a knot that is superior to the Rooney in every way. Just my $0.02.

(07-05-2016, 04:23 PM)surfshaver Wrote: Hi guys, here to report back after a few more uses. All I can say is this is a legit 2-band brush and a bona fide steal at the price. For comparison's sake, I bought one of the Rooney 3-Band Silvertips (Script Logo), size 1/2 on sale from Vintage Blades, for 60 bucks instead of the 100 dollar retail price. While the Rooney handle is nicer than that of the Stirling, the 30 dollar Stirling has a knot that is superior to the Rooney in every way. Just my $0.02.